Contents of a good MPhil thesis

In addition to the requirements for writing an MPhil thesis as stipulated in Section 3.6 of the academic rules and regulations, a good MPhil thesis should contain the following: A title that clearly reflects the contents of the thesis. An abstract that should be motivating to the reader. The abstract should end with about five key words that can guide the reader towards the main contents of the thesis. It should contain at most five chapters. Every chapter of the thesis should have a brief introduction to guide the reader into the main contents of that chapter. Likewise, every chapter should end with a brief summary capturing the main points that have been discussed in that chapter. In the first chapter which is the introduction, the problem statement should be clearly defined, the research purpose well formulated and the research questions clearly articulated. The significance of your research should be sound and with a strong motivation. This chapter should end with a clear outline of the structure of your research proposal. The second chapter which is literature review should begin with an introduction section that guides the reader into the purpose of the review. Literature should be well researched and references should be up-to-date (preferably not older than 5 years from the date they are cited). The more current your references are, the better. Your arguments should flow logically. The chapter should end with a summary of the main points from the literature reviewed. The literature study should guide the formulation of the hypothesis. The third chapter should consist of the theoretical framework that the researcher will use as a guide to find answers to the area(s) of inquiry. The theoretical framework should be thoroughly discussed and should preferably have a conceptual model. Hypotheses and propositions can also be addressed in this chapter and should be linked to the literature review. The methodology chapter which is the fourth chapter should consist of the research strategy and where applicable the study population, sampling method, operationalisation and measurement of key variables, data collection methods, data processing and analysis and the techniques that will be used to ensure validity and reliability of the results. This chapter should end with anticipated limitations during the empirical phase and how these can be overcome. The fifth and last chapter should consist of a budget and time schedule for the research project.

The bibliography should appear at the end of the thesis. All cited sources throughout the thesis should appear in this section. Unless specified otherwise, references should follow the APA (American Psychological Association) format style. This is the most commonly used method to cite sources within the social sciences field.